Figure 3. Real time PCR for expression of S. pneumoniae housekeeping and virulence genes show differential gene regulation in co-culture with NTHi.

S. pneumoniae were grown in mono- and co-culture biofilms and expression of spxB, ply, and pavA are recorded and normalized to expression of the 16s rRNA gene using the ΔΔCt method. Up and down-regulation are displayed as ΔΔCt in panel A. Fold change from the reference gene are displayed in panel B. Changes are considered significant when p≤0.05. Significance is indicated by *. Here, we show significant up-regulation of spxB in co-culture with NTHi, and down-regulation of ply, and pavA.